Heritage
by eiranerys
Summary: Ann Week Day 7: Free Day. When Ren and Anne's daughter Akari expresses some unhappiness about how she doesn't look like the rest of the family, it's on Anne to show her that there's nothing wrong with looking different. And that Akari has more in common with Anne than she thinks... Sequel to A New Addition.


**As noted in the summary, this is a sequel to one of my fics. Specifically my Future/Family prompt from Shuann Week, A New Addition. But all you need to know is that Akari is Ren and Anne's adopted daughter.**

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At the age of twenty-six, Anne Amamiya couldn't help but think that she had a good life. She had been married to Ren for two years. Her career as a model was going extremely well. She had two beautiful children, having given birth to little Tatsuo a year ago. A few months before Tatsuo's birth, she and Ren had adopted a six year old girl, Akari.

And Tatsuo's birthday just having passed… she and Ren were awaiting for Tatsuo to speak his first word.

A sudden squeal suddenly pierced the air. Anne just looked up with a smile. Akari delighted in tickling her baby brother. She loved hearing Tatsuo's giggles and well… Anne didn't exactly disagree with her daughter.

Tatsuo took mostly after her, with his blond hair and blue eyes that sometimes took on a green hue depending on the lighting. He had inherited Ren's curls, however. He was definitely an adorable baby. Once his hair had really started to grow in, Anne had spent countless hours combing through his fine blond curls. She also remembered the time Futaba and Ryuji would argue over who got to babysit. (She and Ren had resolved the matter by announcing that Sojiro was their prime choice of babysitter. He had experience with raising children, after all.)

"Are you two having fun?" Anne asked, smiling down at the two of them.

Akari nodded with a bright smile. "Of course, Mama!"

She was glad to see that Akari was slowly outgrowing her shyness, a result of her upbringing.

"I'm glad." Anne stroked Akari's dark curls for a moment before leaning down to kiss her on the crown of her head. "But I believe _someone_ has homework to do…"

Akari's eyes went big at that. Someone was getting good at the puppy dog eyes. Even her bottom lip trembled at that. "Mama, do I _have _to-"

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but you do," Anne interrupted. She had learned early on that she had to nip this in the bud. "I'll help you if you need it, okay? Papa will be home in an hour, so he can help you with math."

Akari heaved out a long suffering sigh. "Yes, Mama…" she mumbled out before starting to trudge out of the living room and for the kitchen, where she did her homework.

Tatsuo just stared after her, his lips slightly parted. Anne scooped him up as he started to whimper. Anne began to bounce him in her arms, hoping to soothe him. "K… Ka-ri!" he called out.

Akari then whipped around, her brown eyes wide. "Tatsu…?" she breathed out.

Anne just smiled down at her son, even as Tatsuo tried to reach out to Akari. "Aww, someone loves his big sister, doesn't he?" she cooed out.

"Ka-ri!" Tatsuo repeated as if he wanted to confirm it.

"He said my name for his first word!" Akari began to jump up and down, her eyes growing bright with excitement. "You heard that right, Mama?"

"I did, sweetie." Anne then chuckled. "Oh, I suppose homework can wait a little while. I think Tatsuo wants you to hold him." She then winked at Akari. "Just don't tell Auntie Makoto."

"Yay!" Akari cheered before clambering onto the couch and expectantly holding out her arms.

Anne giggled, before depositing Tatsuo in Akari's arms. Tatsuo just looked up at her with big eyes, before repeating, "Ka-ri!"

"Aww, that's too adorable for words," Anne said, before whipping out her phone and snapping a picture of her two children.

Akari planted a wet kiss on his cheek. "Love you, Tatsuo," she said sweetly before she began to finger Tatsuo's hair. She then looked down, a little sigh escaping Akari's lips.

Anne frowned. "What's the matter, Akari?"

"…I wish I looked like you and Tatsu," Akari mumbled out. "I feel like I stick out so much. Nobody at school has dark skin like me. And I barely look like you or Papa. Tatsu's got hair and eyes like you, but Tatsu's hair is curly like Papa." Then she sighed wistfully. "And your hair's just so _pretty_, Mama."

Akari was half black. She had curly jet black hair, deep brown skin, and big brown eyes. Anne couldn't help but wonder why nobody who had visited the orphanage looking to adopt had looked at her twice. Maybe she was biased but Akari was just _adorable. _Well, their loss was Anne and Ren's gain.

But her words nagged at Anne…

"Has anyone been giving you trouble at school?" Anne couldn't help but frown. "Are they being mean to you?"

She didn't care what other people said. _Nobody _got away with bullying her child. And heaven help them once she got her hands on them.

Akari's eyes went round at that, before she shook her head vigorously. "N-No, Mama, that's it! I just…" she then frowned, before saying, "wish that I looked more similar to you and Papa, at least…"

Tatsuo began to squirm in Akari's arms, soft whimpers falling from his lips. Anne quickly checked the time. Whups, it was time to lay him down for a nap.

"Give me a moment to put Tatsuo down for his afternoon nap, sweetie." Anne plucked Tatsuo from Akari's arms, rocking him gently as she walked towards Tatsuo's bedroom.

Fortunately, Tatsuo seemed tired out and he quickly fell asleep due to Anne rocking him. She gently kissed his forehead before tucking him in his crib. For a moment, she ran her fingers through his blond curls. She hoped that Tatsuo wouldn't have to go through what she did, bullied for looking _other. _But before she returned to Akari, she made a quick pit stop at the cupboard to pull out a photo album.

Akari perked up when Anne returned. "What's that, Mama?" she asked.

"You know how I explained to you that Papa and I have been taking pictures of you and Tatsuo and putting them in a photo album so we remember how you look when we're older?" Anne sat down next to Akari, smiling as Akari scooted closer to her. "Well, this is an older one. My parents went and dug out as many pictures of our family, made a photo album, and gave it to me shortly after Papa asked me to marry him."

"So… it's one of your family?" Akari asked. "Before you married Papa?"

"Mmhm!" Anne nodded. "When I was a little girl and a bit older. There are some pictures of my grandparents in here too. They're your great-grandparents."

Akari looked curiously as Anne carefully opened the photo album, resting it in both of their laps. She gave a little sneeze as dust rose into the air. Anne giggled nervously.

"Whups, sorry, honey."

Akari rubbed her nose, before smiling. "It's okay, Mama."

"But this is what I wanted to show you…" Anne pointed out to a picture of her five year old self with her two much younger parents. That was back when her parents took her wherever their job needed them… Her younger self smiled toothily at the camera, a cake laid out in front of her, as both of her parents stood behind her, smiling at the camera.

"Are they… Grandma and Grandpa?" Akari asked tentatively.

"Yep, that's right." Anne nodded.

"But… neither of them have hair like yours," Akari said with a puzzled frown. "They don't have blue eyes either."

Anne just smiled at that. "That's because I take after my grandpa on my dad's side," she explained. "Before I married Papa, my last name was Takamaki. And my Grandpa Takamaki was Finnish-American. He met my Grandma Takamaki when he went to Japan for school."

"You really don't look like Grandma or Grandpa…" Akari said faintly.

"Mmhm." Anne gave her a little squeeze. "I'll also let you in on a little secret… I felt similarly to you when Grandma and Grandpa Takamaki decided that I should go back to Japan instead of traveling with them for work."

"You did?!" Akari gasped.

Anne nodded. "I was the only one in the school with blonde hair. I had an accent from being away from Japan so long. I felt like the odd one out. I even thought that I should dye my hair black…"

She still remembered the whispers. The stares.

_Why is her hair blonde? It's so weird! _

_And she talks so funny… _

"But your hair's so _pretty!" _Akari protested, her eyes round with shock. "How could you ever _think _that?!"

Anne just smiled sadly. "I felt alone, that's all. But then-"

"Wait, wait, wait, is _that _why Uncle Ryuji dyes his hair yellow?" Akari interrupted. "You've known each other longer than you and Papa, right?"

"Pffft, Ryuji?" Anne scoffed. "Uncle Ryuji just dyed his hair because people thought he was a…" Anne hesitated for a moment. Akari might not understand the word _delinquent, _after all. "…A troublemaker, so he thought that he might as well complete the image."

"People thought Uncle Ryuji was a troublemaker?" Akari chewed her lip, before nodding very decisively. "That makes sense."

Anne just giggled before she gave Akari a one-armed hug, giving her a light squeeze. "But anyways, honey, don't feel bad about looking… different." She then gave Akari a little wink. "It's always better to stand out in the crowd than just following them. And there will always be people who don't care. Those are the people you need to stay close with. Just remember that."

"Okay, Mama." Akari nodded. And then she smiled back at Anne. "I'll try and remember that."

Anne felt her heart swell up at Akari's smile. Okay, she was a little biased but Anne couldn't help but think that she had the sweetest little girl. She had never thought becoming a mother would change her but… it did. She'd do anything so that her children wouldn't be sad or hurt. The first time Akari tripped and scraped her knee had just about given her a heart attack. The first time Tatsuo had cried and Anne couldn't soothe him, Anne couldn't help but feel that she was a failure.

She just couldn't help but wonder why so many parents willingly hurt their children, a prime example being Ryuji's dad. On top of that, she couldn't imagine trusting her children with someone she had hired, like her parents had. Her friends had always said that she had a big heart, but Anne personally thought she didn't know the full capacity of her heart until she became a mother.

Anne drew Akari into her lap, dropping little kisses on the top of her head. "I love you."

Akari looked up, puzzled. "I love you, too, Mama." Then she bit her lip. "But um, if you love me this much… could I—"

"Akari…" she sighed, before a devious thought popped into her mind. (Okay, Ren mayyyy have rubbed off on her.) "Well… I suppose you could if you…"

"Really?!" Akari gasped.

"If you let me tickle you!"

With Akari in her lap, she had easily access to Akari's sides.

"Nooo, Mama!" Akari tried to squirm away. "Stoooop!"

Akari's shrieks of laughter bounced in the room, which only made Anne more determined to tickle her.

But then the door opened, and Ren stepped inside. "I'm home!" he announced.

"Papa!" Akari took the moment Anne was distracted to run up to him, hugging him around the waist.

"Hey, Princess." Ren bent down, accepting the tight hug Akari gave him. "How are you?"

"Good." Then Akari shot Anne a pout. "Before Mama decided that she had to tickle me…"

"Oh?" A devious glint entered his eyes. "That's really not fair."

"It's not!" Akari said with a firm nod, and Anne had to fight back her laughter.

Oh, sweet innocent Akari…

"…Because I haven't gotten to tickle you!"

"Nooo!" Akari wriggled away from Ren, running down the hallway before either Anne or Ren could blink. "I'm going! I'm going!"

Ren chuckled, shaking his head. "Do I want to know?"

Anne giggled before walking up to him, giving him a quick kiss. "Welcome home. But to answer your question, I just did it because Akari was dragging her feet on doing her schoolwork."

"Ah." Ren smirked at her, before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. "Sounds like a certain someone I know."

Anne rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah, Mister Top of the Class."

"Hey that only happened once!" Ren argued. Then his eyes traveled to the couch. "What's with the photo album?"

"Akari said… something that worried me," Anne admitted before leaning against her husband. "She said that she wished she looked more like you and me. I just wanted to show her that I was more like her than she thought."

"Anne…" Ren said softly.

"I'm okay, really," Anne said. "I just… don't want our kids to feel the way I did… That they need to change something about themselves to be accepted."

"You're doing an amazing job, then, my lady." Ren pressed a kiss against her temple.

Anne poked him in the side. "Oh shush." She then straightened up, looking at him. "…You're a big reason why I realized that to begin with," she said softly.

Ren shook his head. "I just gave you a little push. You took the first step and took the world by storm."

Anne nudged him. "You're so dramatic sometimes."

"And yet you love me for it," Ren said with a cheeky smile.

Anne huffed, rolling her eyes at him. "And sometimes I wonder why."

"I'm being attacked!" Ren gasped, clutching at his chest. "How dare you…!"

"God, you're such a nerd!" Anne giggled.

Ren then pulled her close, giving her a quick, yet sweet kiss. "You're lucky I love you, you know," he said teasingly. "I wouldn't take that lying down… usually."

Anne then looked at her husband. "…I know."

She indeed was lucky… She was blessed with a husband who loved her, saw _her _instead of the pretty face. She had wonderful friends that she had gone through so much with. And she had two children who she loved so much.

Ten years ago, she would not have imagined that this would be her lot in life. She had felt utterly miserable and alone a decade ago.

But not anymore. Anne may be _other _still. She still stood out in a crowd. And if there was any lesson she hoped to pass onto her children, it was that they shouldn't be ashamed for being different. Part Caucasian… part black… it didn't matter.

It was a part of them. And they should be damn proud of it.

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**I really wanted to touch on Anne being "other". And since Akari is half-black, I thought it'd be a good tie-in. (That and I adore her.) **

**And I have a headcanon that Ren calls Anne "milady"/"my lady". And Akari is his "Princess". While I wasn't able to write for all days for Ann Week like with Shuann Week, I'm glad that I was able to write a couple pieces for it! Anne really is a wonderful character, and I hope that people will appreciate her some more! **


End file.
